ABOUT #PK @AMIRKHAN & HINDU GURUS

Many of my Hindu friends, intelligent, cultured people, whom I respect, have loved the film PK.

This set me thinking: I know that most Hindus do not mind being made fun off and that their religion allows for near unlimited tolerance.

But nevertheless, as a friend of the #Hindus, here are my arguments:

1) Obviously @amirkhan would have never dared making fun of Islam and its Prophet Mohamed. Not only Amir is a Muslim, who though he married a Hindu, brings up his kids as Muslims and goes to Mecca, but he also knows that there would have been all India riots against him and the cinemas that showed #PK.

2) Where does the tradition of making fun and running down Hindu Gurus originate? Not from Amir Khan, not from Bollywood, not even from Nehru – but from the British, who found that Hinduism was the biggest stumbling block to their conquering the hearts, bodies and minds of Indians. Had not Hindus survived the biggest Holocaust ever of our human history – that of the Islamic invasions and kept their faith? How to undermine Hindus? Macaulay and a few peers, such as the redoubtable Lord Curzon, found that the best way was to go after their gurus and demean them. As French historian Alain Danielou noted in his “Histoire de l’Inde”: “the British missionaries and the English Media kept on floating rumours in British controlled newspapers about Hindu gurus performing black magic, of financial fraud, of sexual scandals, etc”. Has anything changed today? Today those who attack Hindu gurus, are just blindly following like puppets a trend set by the British, without understanding what they are doing.

3) What is the truth about Hindu Gurus? The majority of Hindu gurus I have met in 45 years in India, are all genuine. I remember how Osho (formerly Rajneesh) was made fun of in the Indian Press, his Rolls Royces, his sex affairs, how he was imprisoned in the States, etc. It’s only today when you read his books or listen to his tapes, that you understand how deep the guy was.

There is always talk of castes abuses in India by western Indologists, but look at Amrita Anandamayi @ammachimes, from Kerala, who comes from the lowest caste possible & is illiterate: all kind of Brahmins & upper caste Hindus have been bowing down at her feet for decades, she has built one of the most modern hospitals in India, schools, a full fledged university and keeps radiating love around the world.

So much trash has been poured on Satya Sai Baba by the Indian Media, but whoever met him, could not help feeling that he or she was in the presence of something greater, and unexplained. Swami Ramdev is a genuine guru, who has millions of disciples, yet the Congress maligned him repeatedly and even imprisoned him, albeit briefly..

Many of our friends, intellectual people; think that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a ‘commercial’ guru. What is the truth? @SriSri is the most selfless person I know: his whole life has been spent doing sewa, he has so many charity projects, including a remarkable university in Orissa, that he is always stretched for money. He himself lives in a simple cottage and uses an ordinary Innova. He has helped countless people, from naxalites to kashmiris and even recently made a dangerous trip to Iraq to meet the persecuted Yazidis. The man deserves the Novel Peace Prize, because he does a hundred times more what @Kailash Satyarthi does.

4) If you have an enemy, wish him to be a guru. There is no tougher job in the world, you never have a moment for yourself, you have to give something all the time, you sleep little, you have no privacy, people chase you up to your bedroom and ask the most ridiculous things: about their daughters’ marriage, sons exams, love life… Today Hindu gurus they are thrown into jails at the least accusation and stay there, while mullahs who preach secessions are allowed to remain scot free and corrupt politicians who have looted the country of thousands of crores, like Raja or Karunanidhi’s daughter, only spend a few months in jail.

In conclusion, it is wrong to attack Hindu Gurus. The tradition of Gurudom is ancient and revered in India, it has worked for millenniums and it still does today. They may be a few rotten apples, but on the whole 90% of the gurus in India, big and small, are genuine and do God’s work. By attacking the institution of Gurudom, Amir Khan is attacking something very sacred that is dear to a billion of Hindus. Behind Amir Khan the secular friendly guy, there is a hostile Sunni Muslim.

Nehru true servant of British- helps the trend to demean Hindu culture every possible way.Now so called Hindu puppet intellectuals just happy to promote Nehurism without any reservation

“By education I am an Englishman, by views an internationalist, by culture a Muslim, and I am a Hindu only by accident of birth. The ideology of Hindu Dharma is completely out of tune with the present times and if it took root in India, it would smash the country to pieces”- Nehru

I am totally gob smacked, Hindus still worship him & his family; how does one restore the pathetic Hindu psyche

Excellent article. Thank you, Mr. Gautier.
One point to clarify – Aamir Khan’s wife is an atheist, not a Hindu.
You have argued well – Aamir Khan would not dare attack Islam. When one analyzes claims that PK “also criticizes other religions”, we find that this is a gross overstatement. Here’s why.
Aamir Khan attacks EXTREMISTS/EXTREMIST IDEOLOGIES within Islam, not Islam itself. He attacks the gun-wielding, hate-spewing, children-killing bunch of Muslims. He never attacks your common Muslim who practices his/her faith in peace. However, Aamir Khan does not flinch to attack/ridicule the common Hindu who practices his/her faith in peace. “The coward goes to a temple” is a line from the movie. There are also scenes where Lord Siva is disgraced. This is not an insult to the blood-thirsty rioting brigade of Hindus. This is an affront to Hinduism as a religion.
So this idea that PK criticizes other *religions* also is a big stretch. The gullible Hindus don’t seem to understand this.

This reads more like a Commercial for the one who the author states is non-Commercial, not that I know or for our against him or the belief. For some one who obviously believes in ravi shankar the author should not have written this. Also why be anti Amir. He is an actor and has entertained. Period. Stop being cynical and continue with your life dear author

By the way amir khan is only a actor in the movie…. Question should be asked to Raj kumar hirani who has scripted the story or vidhu vinod chopra who produced it? They both being a hindu, why did they dare to do such act?

I am one of those indians that you may call ‘intelluctual’ (I will humbly differ but I fit the stereo type – english-educated-living-abroad-still-connected-to-india-middleclass-upbringing etc).
Living in the west and whenever I come back to india I read nothing but scandals when it comes to gurus. I had a healthy dose of cynism fed into the system by what I saw in the media and perhaps my own indifference but I must say I have now begun to pay more attention. I try not to jump to conclusions. Sure there are lot of fake gurus but we forget that gurus live in the same world as we do and just like modernity hits us it hits them. Most hindus like me wrongly expect gurus to somehow be fountains of wisdom donned in hermit clothing and walk out of a jungle like described in the puranas.
Your post above helps in opening the eyes of hindus. I must share my recent experience last week from a trip to kancheepuram the holiest of holy mutt of hinduism where Adi Shankaracharya established the original seat of vedic knowledge 2500 years ago.
My indifference changed completely. I live in a crowded part of Mumbai and everyday wihtout exaggeration I say I am bombarded with sounds of Azan from 3 mosques in 3 directions 5 times a day. I accept that as the rules of India for a common man. I must add that we also get blaring noise from a jain temple,a shiva temple,a church bell everyday. That is india.
Everybody is allowed to make noise.
But what happened in Kanchipuram shocked me. I was sitting in a puja being conducted by the Balperiva (the latest shankaracharya in the lineage of 2500 years). The Islamic azan played in the middle of the puja so loud that we could even hear the person sitting 10 inches away. I was shocked how can this be?
Did the build the mosque right inside the kanchi Mutt ?
I stepped out and what I found shocked me. There is a large mosque built right next door and it shares a wall with the kanchi mutt.
Even my secular liberal macaylayian sold out indian mind could not take this.
I totally believe what you mention above that its a conspiracy from the times of british and we stupid indians are so naive and tolerant that we believe this.
There is so much noise over babri masjid and insulting of prophet and islam but we forget that hindu gurus and hindu places of worship have been systematically dismantled,demeaned and offended.
I now realize what all that fuss was about in a controversy in the US few years ago where muslims want to build a mosque (called community centre)at the sept 11 site. At that time I supported the mosque but after my trip to kanchi I am convinced that these people are systematically deriding and dismantling hinduism by ridiculing it and taking its dignity away.

By the way senior shankaracharya whenever he does puja stops the puja when the islamic azan is played. He closes his eyes listens to the azan and then continues his hindu puja. He says “No one should say anything that after all muslims are praying to their god just like we hindus are so let them”.

Can you imagine a hindu temple right next to Mecca sharing a wall or the vatican and a loud Bhajan or vedic chant playing right next in one of the rituals and the pope or the imam accepting it ?

It high time hindus stood up to this nonsense. Having said all this I must say I believe in constitution of India and I believe in the right of PK to offend gurus. For my part and you part we should spread the message of the greatness of hinduism and the strength is the tolerane and the firm resolution in making such offenses just noise and a proof of the mediocrity of their own faith and humanity.
Thanks Sir Gautier for being a voice of reason for India.
Love you.

And, here’s a response I wrote a couple of days ago on the Bollywood movie “Peekay” showing in theaters all across America. Now I know how relevant my resp. was!
“Watched Peekay over the weekend. At the outset, yes, it’s a very rational, well made, thoroughly enjoyable movie, with some incredible acting by Amir Khan, and Anushka Sharma.
And, here comes the caveat! While, the movie is all about exposing the irrational attitude of blindly religious people belonging to “supposedly” all religions, and their “self-styled” Holymen who feed on people’s weaknesses for their own ends, as is the norm, it dwells almost exclusively on just one religion – Hinduism, knowing fully well the enormous resilience amongst Hindus for self-critique.
However what is NOT lost on “some” watchers is the fact that the producers did not have the guts to also showcase some of the weaknesses in the second most dominant religion in India (& the world) Islam…..for the simple reason……………the movie would never have seen the light of the day, and the producer’s/actors’ heads would be on the line (literally speaking)!”
The same was true of the movie “Haider” which depicts the brave Indian soldiers in a terrible light, and outrageously includes a cheap, garish dance sequence right in the sanctum sanctorum of Kashmir’s most famous 1,000 yr. old Martand Sun Temple destroyed by Muslim rulers (just as 10’s of thousands more all over S&SE Asia) .
Reminds me of what the much acclaimed, decorated (with several of the nation’s highest civilian awards!) artist M.F. Husain did painting Hindu gods in all kinds of obscene poses/acts (incl. those depicting Sex with animals) while he did not have the ba##s to paint any depicting his own religion Islam (forget painting any derogatory ones!.
Yes, I regret spending money watching both these movies at the theaters!

Yes – please correct novel to Nobel, or we may have to create some novel prize.
Whatever PK movie may be – as a Hindu, I am proud that our religion will always survive cause we should raise above all this human emotions like jealousy and sacred and things like that. There is a saying whose jest is that my world will not change – say what you will. Probably Amir Khan realized that about Hindus and he tried to show the world that we Hindus are the spiritual transcendental beings (that we should be) and we had the option of showing the world the true meaning of tolerance – but alas (clearly we are in Kali Yuga), ,we all gave in to this human emotion of kama, krodha – pfft, i am disappointed in us.
WE ARE ALL THE SAME. YES – you know what I am talking about
AND NOW I have to listen to all the propoganda about how great Hinduism was ages ago.
Keep in mind that this whole world is a maya. The more weightage you give to this PK, much real it will get.
Its terrible, we all say we are Hindus and we are great – but what have we learnt. We still want the world to give us a first prize, is it!! SHAME SHAME

The best line in the film was the guru asking pk what would he give them in place of religion. Indeed, what? Everybody has a God – be it an idol, a shrine/building, a book that is from God, or Science. Or even shunya.
Another point: maybe Jaggu’s (character played by Anushka) parents had watched the Aamir Khan starrer ‘Fanaa’ and were warning her against the Rehaans of the world. As far as I know, regardless of religious affiliation, people do warn their kids about groups of people they have read, heard or seen scary things about.

The film was an epitome of gross exaggeration. Which godman on earth would sell a shining green colored pendant as a part of Shiva’s dumroo?? The filmmaker very cruelly and cunningly tried to deride the concept of religion itself in the name of ‘enlightening people against blind faith’. He tried to throw the cradle along with the baby.

An excellent perspective that exposes the Pseudo Intellectuals and Misguided souls. Fact is that the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ (Hinduism) is ‘anadi’ (beginningless) & ‘anatha’ (endless) that is why it is always referred to by all the great gurus as a way-of-life; it can accommodate the whole spectrum from the ignorant to the devious. It will interesting to see if the so called ‘secularist’ like Amir Khan can do a Satirical one on his own faith & founder. For that matter all other faiths are so myopic in their beliefs that all they practice is ‘My Way or the Highway’ cursing that the other one will go -to-hell whereas in reality goodness is all that one needs to practice & goodness is a way of life! …. Let there be Light:)

hindu is such a wonderful religion, which enjoys even the making fun of their gods.

as krishna was mishandled by gopis, his mother etc. so they are habitual even if a muslim or muslim minded hindu film company, director , producer make shame of hindu gods, still they enjoys.

one can say either hindu is above shame, and fame or he is such a fool, that even if you make their god naked and amir khan chasing lord shiva, still it is their great entertainment. and they make the film a box office hit.

Wonderful observation about Hinduism and the movie PK’s content. Even though your observations are true on Hindu Gurus, you have only know few of them who have achieved and well known among people like you in other countries where they have established well. There are better organisations well organised than those gurus, who you may be aware and they do an excellent job for the religion and people. Many gurus you know went through start-up trouble due to the various magic they did to prove themselves, so got criticized. However it is required to prove themselves to reach their higher goals. If the goals are good then they survived and otherwise they have disappeared. However there are hundreds of Gurus all over India and abroad who rely on pure magic, using the faith of the people on religion and its many false beliefs and cheat them. This may vary from garbing money to getting their full wealth, sex, etc. People who are illiterate and even literate people fall into their traps and spoil their life. The PK movie illustrate this trait as much as possible and it is not a false fact to object. All Hindus know this, even though they may object it for the sake of undermining the religion name. As you said this is true in all religion. The recent religion with high number of people does not accept any criticism by principle and if any one within or outside did it they are taken to task. The main difference in Hinduism is that it highly matured and there is no one point of control like other religions where from it can be steered. The Indian government constitution is also one sided on this, which went unnoticed in 1947 due to country’s freedom struggle. The Nehru dynasty spoiled it further for their family shake. In fact most of the income from Hindu temples are governed by various Indian government intuitions and siphoned by politicians and also spend on other religion in India. Hinduism will grow and will be stronger in the future by all these test of the time and people all over the world will realize its importance soon.